


Fear Follows

by Chere_the_Dancer



Series: Wayhaven Week July 12th-18th 2020 [6]
Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, The Library, Why do we keep meeting here?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25325803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chere_the_Dancer/pseuds/Chere_the_Dancer
Summary: When the detective is driven from her bed by nightmares, where better to go then the home of her “monsters?”  The possible complications to her plan don’t occur to her until it’s too late.  Complications mostly being Adam.
Relationships: Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Series: Wayhaven Week July 12th-18th 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827559
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Fear Follows

# Daydream or Nightmare

# 

  
Kira looked up at the warehouse that served as a façade for Unit Bravo’s home and knew she’d made a mistake. Having woken from a nightmare and been left full of emotions that would make her explode if she didn’t do something, it had seemed clear that coming here was the perfect solution. Now she was realizing all the complications to her plan. If she simply crawled into her bed here and fell asleep, like she’d been planning, all of Unit Bravo would know she’d come here in the middle of the night. There was no way she could just slip through the day without questioning from her friends as to what had brought her here. Regardless, she couldn’t bring herself to drive back to her apartment.

  
Nibbling on her lip she took a deep breath and moved inside. The solution was to miss out on sleep and pretend she arrived early to do research. Nate wouldn’t question it, Mason wouldn’t bother to ask more, and even Felix would merely complain that she was supposed to be the fun one, not a workaholic. Adam, well, he was probably the one she needed to worry about the least. Asking her questions would show he cared after all. Her stomach turned at the bitterness of her thought, so she pushed it away.

  
The scent of the library was a comfort even now. Kira made her way as far from the door as possible, sitting on the floor and resting her head on her knees. She couldn’t see the door from this position, blocked from view by the shelves of books. Hopefully if anyone came into the room, they wouldn’t see her either, though she supposed even if they didn’t see her, they would definitely hear her.

  
The tears that had been building since she woke began to trickle down her face and she buried her face in her legs to keep the sound muffled as she began to sob in earnest. This was exactly why it was a bad idea for her to come here, but she was just so frustrated. She was an honest to goodness adult and she couldn’t sleep in her own apartment because of a bad feeling? The fragile shell Kira had been building up broken, she simply let herself fall apart and for a time didn’t think of anything but her own misery.

  
The hand that landed on her head was gentle, obviously trying to be soothing as it stroked her long red hair. Nate would have spoken by now, Mason would have made a flirting remark, Felix’s hand wasn’t that big.

  
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up.” Her voice was punctuated by gasping breaths that just made everything worse and now embarrassment was making Kira even more miserable and the tears were coming even faster. “I swear I’m fine, so can you please let me be pathetic without an audience?”

  
The hand slid down and grasped the back of her neck, the warmth soothing in a way that made her wish it didn’t take horrible situations for her to experience it. He didn’t speak, and she couldn’t stop crying.

  
Eventually the tears dried up and her breathing slowed, leaving Kira feeling empty and exhausted. Any minute now Adam would be asking her questions and she’d have to lay herself bare to him. She kept her face buried in her lap to try and delay the inevitable.

  
“If you need to come here in the middle of the night, I would prefer you call one of us to come pick you up. Driving when you’re tired is just as bad as driving drunk.”

  
The practicableness of his suggestion pulled a laugh out of Kira, drawing emotion from what felt like a well gone dry.

  
“Nate can’t drive.”

  
“I can drive,” Adam’s tone was serious. “Believe me when I say all of us would prefer you reach it here safely.”

  
“I thought about walking here, but I thought you’d like that even less.”

  
Kira heard the breath he drew in at the thought of her walking the woods at night and couldn’t help the rush of happiness at the idea of him caring.

  
“We’re here to protect you Detective, let us do that.”

  
She turned her head up to look at him and found his icy green eyes looking down at her warmly, his hand still a comforting weight on her neck. He wore loose pants that looked worn, as if he often chose to wear them in sleep. The wrinkled t-shirt looked like he’d thrown it on when he’d left his room and picturing Adam sleeping shirtless was not something Kira needed in her mind right now.

  
“I’m never strong enough to take care of myself, am I?” The words were quiet, Kira’s exhaustion speaking words that would never leave her lips in the day. “You guys must think I’m quite the burden.”

  
“That doesn’t sound like you Detective. Can you imagine Mason willingly spending time with someone he thought wasn’t an important asset to the team? Come, let’s talk somewhere else. I doubt you want everyone seeing you right now.”

  
“I didn’t want anyone seeing me right now,” Kira muttered, allowing his hand to guide her to her feet and moving to follow him robotically.

  
“Why did you come here then?”

  
Kira ignored his question for a time, instead focusing on his back as they moved through the hallways.

  
“I didn’t feel comfortable at my apartment and I knew I’d feel safe here,” she finally answered as he swung the door to his bedroom open and gestured for her to come inside. It felt strange to be here when he wasn’t drugged and confined to his bed. Kira eyed him as she walked past him into the room, curious as to his choice.

  
“No one will bother us here,” Adam said defensively, as if she was about to accuse him of something. “Felix would certainly have joined us in the library if he heard you.”

  
He gestured for her to sit, the only option being the edge of his bed. Once she settled Adam sat closer to her than she expected, though still with enough distance that they would not touch unless the move was deliberate.

  
“Are you willing to tell me why you didn’t feel safe in your apartment?”

  
Kira tipped her head back to gaze at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of Adam’s eyes on her face as he studied her.

  
“It feels a little silly now,” she began slowly, “it wasn’t even the worst nightmare I’ve had. It just left me feeling. . . trapped and powerless. Lately it seems every time I feel that way, I’m in my apartment.”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
Adam’s voice lowered into a particularly protective tone, which tore down the dam Kira had been building up around her frustrations.

  
“After everything happened with, well, it’s left me a little desperate for control. Falk is a sweetheart, but popping into my apartment to talk made it feel decidedly less like a safe place. Then there was the whole Bobby thing.”

  
Kira was fairly certain she heard Adam growl. She turned her head to look and found him scowling, hands gripping his bed tightly enough that she was worried something would tear.

  
“I think it’s time you told me more about that night.”

  
“Ok.” Her voice was soft as she directed her eyes to a spot on his shirt, not wanting to get distracted by the way he was looking at her, as if he wanted to wrap her up and keep her safe. “When I went home that night I was upset about some things—”

  
“What things?”

  
“That’s really not important right now—”

  
“What things Kira?”

  
The use of her name crushed her resistance.

  
“I overheard you saying something to Nate that I didn’t like. It’s not important right now Adam.”

  
She felt him considering her words and knew he was reviewing that night as best he could for what had upset her. He took a deep breath and then sighed.

  
“You were coming home upset?” He prompted. If he wasn’t going to address it than neither was she.

  
“And in the shadows of my hallway I found Bobby waiting for me. At first, I thought he might have something useful to say, but he was just talking about how I’d gone to the carnival with one of you and the news was all over town. I told him I wasn’t in the mood for talking about it and tried to go into my apartment. That’s when he stuck his foot in the door so I couldn’t close it. He was being so insistent and I didn’t know what to do.

  
“I didn’t want to hurt him, but I wanted him to move and leave me alone. He asked if he could come inside and I figured it might be easier to get him to leave if I let him say whatever he came to say. I had to dodge him kissing me and took off to the bathroom to figure out how to handle things. I was nervous that whatever I did Bobby would turn it into something for Wayhaven to salivate over—and he would come out looking like an altar boy.”

  
“He’s done it before.” Somehow Adam had guessed exactly what Kira was about to reveal.

  
“Exactly.” Kira let out a gusting breath, fingers running over the edge of the sweater she was wearing. “When we were in college, he stole my essays and when it got found out he spun this whole tale that had me as the devoted, but naïve, girlfriend trying to help lighten the load for the overburdened journalism student. Neither of us got expelled, but no one believed me when I said that wasn’t what happened. Bobby went as far as telling me I should be grateful he covered both our butts.”

  
“You’re lucky you got out when you did.” Adam’s body was tense with pent up energy and Kira knew it was only going to get worse as she continued her story. 

  
“Still, I knew letting him in had been a stupid choice and I needed him out, so I was planning on giving him the boot when I caught him on a phone call. He was talking about how he would get the information he needed from me and have some fun for himself while doing it. I have rarely been as angry as I was then. I told him to get out, but he was coming towards me instead. That’s when the maa-alused showed up and I called you right after.”

  
“Why didn’t you call me until after all that had happened? Why not in the bathroom when that boy was bothering you? I would have taken care of him.”

  
Kira cocked her eyebrow at him dubiously. Once again, she felt he knew just what he was implying with his vague comment.

  
“I didn’t think Bobby constituted a supernatural level threat.”  
“Kira,” Adam lay his hand on top of hers, squeezing lightly. Her breath caught as she waited for him to continue speaking. “I do not care what kind of threat you’re facing; you don’t need to do it alone and I want to be there to help you. If news of us going to the carnival together was all over town, I could have easily played the jealous boyfriend.”

  
“You didn’t like the idea of playing a couple at the carnival.”

  
He shook his head slightly, eyes catching hers.

  
“But I think we did a convincing job of it, no? A young couple figuring out what they want and what they need while enjoying time together, even if one of them wasn’t the most thrilled to be there. I could have been a very convincing jealous lover.”

  
There was something about Adam saying the word lover that was like lightning through Kira’s senses. How did he infuriate her one day and turn he to a puddle the next? The look in his green eyes warmed her to the core and she couldn’t help but admit the core of what had been bothering her.

  
“Having Bobby in Wayhaven has been a nightmare. He wasn’t even supposed to end up here, he should be abroad somewhere reporting and seeing the world, but no, he found his way back to Wayhaven where he can torment me on a weekly basis. He’s been annoying, but I’ve never been afraid of him before, not before that night. I may not be the best at combat, but I could take him if I had to. That night though, when he came at me like he was going to grab me instead of leave, for a moment I thought he might try to do more than just touch my arm, and no one would believe me.”

  
Adam drew her captured hand closer to his body, forcing her to pull it back or angle her body towards his. Naturally Kira allowed herself to move towards him. Once he’d brought her focus to him, he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers before speaking.

  
“We would have believed you Kira. I’m sure with your mother’s help he would disappear quite handily once we were done with him.”

  
Kira’s eyes flashed to Adam’s, finding the beautiful green orbs as harsh as his words.

  
“We protect our own Kira, and you’re,” Adam paused, “you’re ours.”

  
She couldn’t process that other than to squeeze his hand with all she had, not willing to push for more on a night like this, when he was trying to so hard to be there for her.

  
“Thank you.”

  
They sat like that, every point of contact between them sparking with warmth and something Kira didn’t dare name, for enough time that she began to feel sleepy once more.

  
“If Bobby is a nightmare, I hesitate to imagine what you would call us,” Adam said lightly, but though he seemed to be joking Kira couldn’t help but remember his assumption that she would think of them as monsters. She leaned back, shaking her head as she looked at him blearily.

  
“You guys are what I would imagine during really slow days on patrol. A little daydream where I meet four wonderful men who are just as passionate about protecting people as I am. Maybe they bring an element of danger into my life, but they open it up to a whole new world that I get to be a part of. Their leader is bossy and overly opinionated, but he becomes one of my best friends. I’ve had nightmares that end with you . . . with you guys saving me.”

  
She yawned then, much to her own frustration as it distracted her from the way Adam’s eyes had widened as she spoke. By the time she could focus on him once more there was just a slight smile on his lips. He collected himself quickly to a more neutral look.

  
“I have some things to do this morning, but why don’t you sleep here for now? Walking to your own room would surely wake you up.”

  
Kira wondered if he was thinking at all of how his bed would smell like her when he next lay in it. She certainly was.

  
“Okay.”

  
She toe'd her shoes off and slid back on the bed as Adam stood up and moved to the doorway, watching as she made herself at home in his space. He didn’t leave until she had nestled into his pillow, her long hair piling around her.

  
“Sleep well.”

  
Kira smiled, voice full of certainty as she assured him,

  
“I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Why do Adam and Kira meet in the library in all my stories? I don't know. I suppose it's the room I would be most interested in and that bleeds into all of my detectives. What did you think of this one? I don't know why I love writing Adam so much. He wasn't even my second playthrough, but there's something about that slow burn that I just can't say no to. My story with him earlier this week was originally under 1000 words, so I wanted this one to be longer. Now they're both longer stories.  
> Also, did any of you find Bobby super creepy if you let him in your apartment? His general resistance to the word no doesn't help, but on my most recent playthrough of book 2 I let him into my apartment for the first time and if I was the detective, would have been super concerned.


End file.
